THE EUROPEAN – SECURITY AND DEFENCE UNION
A common cooperative security culture in CBRNe mitigation
The EU-guided CBRN Centres of Excellence Interview with Olivier Luyckx, Head of Unit B5, DG DEVCO, European Commission, Brussels
The EU Centres of Excellence on Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Risk Mitigation (CBRN CoE) initiative was launched by the European Union in 2011 and has increasingly developed its worldwide network and range of activities. It aligns with the activities of the latest EU CBRN Action Plan, which commenced implementation in 2014. The objective is to facilitate regional cooperation in order to enhance CBRN governance and capabilities, in mitigation of risks related to CBRN materials worldwide. The European: Mr Luyckx, you are the Head of Unit, Security, Nuclear Safety in the Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development (DG DEVCO) after having been the Head of Unit, Counterterrorism, in DG HOME. In this capacity, you coordinated the EU internal CBRN Action Plan. May I ask you to elaborate on the rationale of the CBRN CoE? Olivier Luyckx: I would like to underline the fact that security and development go hand in hand, and the EU considers the security-development nexus as crucial. History tells us that there is no lasting development without security, as seen, for example, in diverse environments such as Libya, Somalia, Central Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, and Afghanistan. Insecurity, fragility and conflicts hamper normal social and economic activities; they make institutions weak and dysfunctional; they jeopardize political stability; they impede development activities. The opposite is true though: lack of development, poverty, inequalities, competition for natural resources, absence of basic public services fuel grievances, tensions, violence and insecurity. This nexus has been widely recognized, for example in SDG 16, the EU Global Strategy, the EU Comprehensive Approach, or the EU Agenda for Security.
The European: And all of this has to be viewed in light of the relationship between Europe’s internal and external security? Olivier Luyckx: Indeed, the second key nexus is the internal-external nexus. Whatever happens in Algeria, in Vietnam, in Iraq, in Afghanistan, even in very remote areas, has an effect on our own security. This relationship works in both directions, for example, we know that remittances from diasporas are sometimes higher than ODA (Official Development Assistance). The European: So the security-development nexus and the internal-external nexus are really at the heart of your mandate here? Olivier Luyckx: Absolutely. Let us now consider CBRN specifically, as an illustration of this. The remit of the Centres of Excellence involves capacity-building and multi-hazard preparedness and response. The European: What does capacity-building mean in this context? Olivier Luyckx: Capacity-building means equipping partner countries to manage situations themselves. We do this by supporting changes in legislation and regulatory frameworks, assessing partner countries’ needs and producing action plans according to the needs identified. Currently we are working with a group of almost 60 countries in eight regions worldwide. We work using a multi-hazard approach: CBRN incidents could be either natural, such as the Ebola outbreak or the Fukushima disaster; man-made but incidental, such as the tragedies of Bhopal and Chernobyl; or man-made and malicious, for example the use of chemical weapons by the terrorist group Aum Shinrikyo in Tokyo in 1995.
Olivier Luyckx (left) and Hartmut Bühl in front of the EU CBRN CoE flagg in Mr Luyckx office at the European Commission in Brussels
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Source: DG DEVCO/ European Commission
The European: Do you reflect on specific scenarios like a terrorist dirty bomb? Olivier Luyckx: According to the latest available information, the most likely modus operandi would be the use of chemical agents. However, we also look at the threat of biological materials, coming from poorly guarded hospital waste. Likewise, a device containing radiological material could be made using discarded material from medical and research centres. The European: So the whole process is about saving lives and avoiding such incidents? Olivier Luyckx: Indeed. To avoid incidents, we support capacity building in partner coun-
